DONALSONVILLE, GA - The Lake Oconee Academy girls’ tennis team came up short against the defending state champions in Seminole County early last week in the GHSA Class A-Public Elite Eight, but that did not take away from their historic season.
With first-year head coach Tom Imhof, the Lady Titans finished the regular season 7-2 and won its first region championship in program history.
Imhof acknowledged that it the was the team’s two matches against region rival Commerce that allowed it to come out of a tough league on top.
“At the beginning of the season, we lost to them four matches to one, but we had a couple girls that were still playing soccer, so they missed that first match,” Imhof said. “They were better than us then, but we really matured and were battle-tested throughout the season, so when we saw them again, we beat them in a close 3-2 match.”
Other key matches throughout the regular season tested the Lady Titans as well.
One in particular was the three-match series against Washington-Wilkes after the initial one at the beginning of the season was postponed due to inclement weather. After losing to the Tigers 4-1 at home on March 21, the Lady Titans traveled to Washington-Wilkes the very next day and beat them by the exact same score.
Later in the season, Lake Oconee Academy defeated Washington-Wilkes by another 4-1 score to earn the No. 1 seed heading into the region tournament.
The Lady Titans were able to defeat Social Circle and Commerce in the region tournament to come away as champions. Imhof claimed that series was the team’s turning point during the season.
“We knew Washington-Wilkes was going to be one of the strongest teams in our subregion. After losing to them 4-1, we had to go back to their place the next day,” Imhof said. “It was very windy, and our girls were able to overcome and adjust to beat them by the exact same score they beat us. That determination was really the turning point for our season.”
Even though the season ended sooner than the Lady Titans would have liked, the team is poised to come back even stronger next year.
Lake Oconee Academy is only graduating a few seniors, and some of its best talent will be returning for another season. Junior Love Kalpak played as the team’s No. 1 singles player and may have sophomore Anika Imhof join her as one of the other singles players next year.
On top of that, junior Hailey Heinen’s sister and state champion basketball player, Hannah Heinen, may also join next year’s squad and could prove to be a tough doubles matchup for opponents.
The future looks bright for a young program that will enter its third season come 2023.